In Boston on January 19th, 1809, Edgar Allen Poe was born to two actors, Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe Jr. After the birth of Poe's sister Rosalie, his father abandoned the family, leaving Elizabeth with three children: Henry, Edgar, and Rosalie. Poe unfortunately lost his mother to tuberculosis soon after. His father also died of tuberculosis within days of his wife's passing. Orphaned at a young age, Poe was taken in by John and Frances Allan and spent his early life with his new family in England.
When the Allans returned to Virginia, Poe briefly attended the University of Virginia, but left due to his foster parents' unwillingness to help him escape his $2000 gambling debt. The year 1831 brought about the death of Poe’s older brother Henry who was another victim to tuberculosis. In those early years, Poe worked as a writer and editor for numerous periodicals and even wrote critics for works of numerous authors, including Washington Irving and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia. Poe moves his new wife and his mother-in-law to New York and then to Philadelphia.
In the summer of 1838, Poe's first novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was published. With his first novel completed, Poe got a job as an editor for a Gentleman's Magazine and started working on a two-volume story collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. While Poe's life prospers, his wife soon falls ill of tuberculosis, which is not new to Poe at this point in his life. Moving back to New York, Poe creates a magazine The Broadway Journal, which fails due to financial problems. A year later, Virginia dies of (you guessed it) tuberculosis. Her death sends Poe into a deep case of alcoholism and such a profound depression that many of his friends thought he was going insane. After another year, Poe proposes to a poet named Sarah Helen Whitman, who calls off the engagement when he fails to stop drinking. Desperate for a wife, he convinces his childhood sweetheart to be his fiancee.
Sadly, two months later, Poe was found unconscious in a gutter in Baltimore. He was rushed to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead of unknown causes. His body currently resides at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.
When the Allans returned to Virginia, Poe briefly attended the University of Virginia, but left due to his foster parents' unwillingness to help him escape his $2000 gambling debt. The year 1831 brought about the death of Poe’s older brother Henry who was another victim to tuberculosis. In those early years, Poe worked as a writer and editor for numerous periodicals and even wrote critics for works of numerous authors, including Washington Irving and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. In 1836, he married his 13-year-old cousin, Virginia. Poe moves his new wife and his mother-in-law to New York and then to Philadelphia.
In the summer of 1838, Poe's first novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym was published. With his first novel completed, Poe got a job as an editor for a Gentleman's Magazine and started working on a two-volume story collection Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. While Poe's life prospers, his wife soon falls ill of tuberculosis, which is not new to Poe at this point in his life. Moving back to New York, Poe creates a magazine The Broadway Journal, which fails due to financial problems. A year later, Virginia dies of (you guessed it) tuberculosis. Her death sends Poe into a deep case of alcoholism and such a profound depression that many of his friends thought he was going insane. After another year, Poe proposes to a poet named Sarah Helen Whitman, who calls off the engagement when he fails to stop drinking. Desperate for a wife, he convinces his childhood sweetheart to be his fiancee.
Sadly, two months later, Poe was found unconscious in a gutter in Baltimore. He was rushed to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead of unknown causes. His body currently resides at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore.